Tarangire and Lake Manyara sit on the road between Arusha and Ngorongoro and are usually given a single day each on a northern circuit itinerary. Tarangire in particular deserves more.
Tarangire
The park covers 2850 square kilometres around the Tarangire River, which is the only permanent water for a long way in any direction. In the dry season from July to October, animals from a much larger ecosystem concentrate along it, producing elephant herds of a hundred or more and the highest concentration of wildlife in Tanzania outside the Serengeti. In the wet season most of them disperse and the park empties out.
Baobabs
Tarangire is defined visually by its baobabs, some of them over a thousand years old, with trunks scarred where elephants have stripped the bark for moisture. The combination of enormous trees, red earth and elephant herds is the image people take away.
What else lives there
Beyond elephant, the park has large populations of buffalo, giraffe, zebra and eland, plus dry-country specialists rarely seen elsewhere in the north: fringe-eared oryx, gerenuk and the greater kudu. Around 550 bird species have been recorded, the highest count of any Tanzanian park, and lions are common along the river.
Lake Manyara
A shallow alkaline lake at the foot of the Rift Valley escarpment, backed by groundwater forest fed by springs. The park is small, 330 square kilometres of which two thirds is water, and can be driven in half a day. Flamingos, pelicans and storks gather on the lake in numbers that vary enormously with water level. Manyara is known for tree-climbing lions, which are real but far from guaranteed.
The escarpment and Mto wa Mbu
The Rift Valley wall rises 600 m directly behind the park and the viewpoint on the road above is worth a stop. The village of Mto wa Mbu at the park gate is unusual in Tanzania for having residents from more than a hundred ethnic groups, and cultural walking tours through its banana plantations, rice fields and workshops are among the better community tourism programmes in the country.
Practicalities
Both parks are within two hours of Arusha, which makes them feasible as day trips. Park fees are lower than the Serengeti or Ngorongoro. Night drives and walking safaris are permitted in parts of Tarangire, which is not the case in the bigger parks, and are the best reason to spend a night inside.